Hello family. This week has been pretty good. I guess some interesting news is I survived a 6.2 magnitude earthquake this week. Before you freak out, let me explain. Yes, it was a 6.2, but nothing happened, nobody died, and everyone is just fine. Even peoples' little bamboo shacks didn't fall down. The worst damage I heard about was like peoples flower pots breaking and stuff. It was weird cause I've never felt one before. It woke us up at 4:50 in the morning, I kinda just sat up in bed and had to take it in for a few seconds to make sure it was real and not dreaming. But then my companion sat up too and was like, "What's going on" and I was like, "I think it's an earthquake." "Ok cool." And we went back to sleep. Or tried to, but it was hard cause there were all these after shocks that kept shaking our beds and keeping us awake. One of the missionaries in our house didnt' even wake up! I really don't know how. If it was a more serious earthquake and our house was falling down, he'd be a goner for sure. Anyway, the work here has been going pretty well. We've been able to go to a lot of people I haven't been able to go to yet, cause we split the area now and so that has been really helpful. We've found several investigators that are part member families. They are what President Tobias wants us to focus on. Part member families, and unordained males. So we've been working to find them, and see if we can help them receive the gospel/return to activity etc.. The weather has been a little crazy cause there are 2 baguios in the Philippines right now I think. So during the day it's super hot, but then around 5 or 6 it'll just pour rain for an hour or longer. We definitely got soaked this week on Wednesday. One of the ward members was working with us in this more mountainous area with rice fields and sugarcane fields, stuff like that, cause in that area there are about 300 members, and maybe 25 or so active. Anyway he had his 8 year old son with him, Nikko, and we were walking back towards civilization, and it started to rain. So we started walking really fast, cause when it rains here, it pours, and doesn't stop! So I scooped up Nikko in my arms and we all just started running in the rain, down this path that was basically just puddles and mud.We ran for a good mile before we got to Sister "Ping"s house. She is one of those members that is like a mother to the missionaries and she's awesome. She gave us some towels to dry off, and every time we come over she insists on feeding us. Her house is the one we ate snails at. She's a good cook. Then she cut up this pineapple, and Elder Aubrey and I ate the whole thing. The fruit here is amazing. I'm attaching a couple of pictures for you to see.

Hey fam. Well sounds like you guys are just having all sorts of fun and going on all sorts of vacations!  This week has been pretty good. Fist off, I have a new companion! His name is Elder Aubrey, and he's from Ogden. It's pretty cool cause I knew him back in the MTC he is the batch below me. So yeah. Also this week we got  two more missionaries to be assigned here in Kabankalan, which is good, cause this city is huge and it was really hard for just us two do to everything. It's really going to help the ward progress. So right now there are  6 of us in one house  so we're pretty squished! The other  2 are assigned in Oringao, which is a barangay of Kabankalan about  20 minutes away from here. They were supposed to be living there, but the owner of the house wanted more than they originally said, and so the office is still trying to negotiate with them. So in the mean time, it's sardines. Thats the biggest news from me. Other than that we've just been doing our work. Oh I saw my first monkey this week! He gave me a high five cause I gave him some fruit. I was kinda scared he was gonna claw my face off at first cause he was just hanging down from this chain on a tree, but it seemed pretty nice. Our church attendance was about 20 higher than last week, so that was great. It's nice to see some of the fruits of your efforts! Wowsers, this week I'll be hitting my year mark! It's gone by fast, and everybody tells me it just goes by faster and faster. Hopefully I will be sending you guys a small package with some things (like some letters I wrote forever ago and still haven't sent) along with some other things.  Ok, well thanks for all your prayers, cares, and everything else. Love you guys. Love, Elder Andersen

Hey Family! Well I am now officially 20 years old. We didn't do anything special on my birthday, cause we had work to do, but today we went to this place called mag-aso. You can tell what that is by the pictures. It was really cool! Don't worry we didn't go swimming! So this week has been good. I've had ups and downs. I guess thats just the way it is on a mission! We had a really cool experience this week. We were trying to find these members, so we asked people if they knew where they lived. We went to the house, and a guy came out and was just talking to us in English, which doesn't happen too often, well, I guess it doesn't happen too often that they can actually speak English instead of people saying things like, "Hey Joe! Where have you going?" Anyway, so this guy was way good at English (it was funny cause we spoke to him in Illongo, but he spoke to us in English) He wasn't a member, and didn't know who we were looking for, but he told us his son in law was an American. The son in law wasn't there, but his wife and two kids were. The kids can only speak English, cause they lived in America, they're only living here for like a year. So yeah, the wife is a Filipino, but she's lived in America for like 6 years so she speaks English like an American, and so does the whole fam damily! It was way weird. But they were really nice and fed us and everything. We gave the guy a pamphlet, and he also asked for a Book of Mormon, which we didn't have any English ones,so we gotta go back sometime and get him one. Usually Americans here that are married to Filipinas are like 60 and they're wives are like 25 cause they're gold diggers. But this guy volunteered for the peace corps, so he was here for 2 years as well, and can speak Illongo too. He seemed like a really cool guy. He works for the government as a financial analyst or something, and right now he's assigned in Afghanistan. But yeah, it was just a really cool experience. Our other investigators are doing ok as well. I mean we're constantly finding and dropping ones, but we have quite a few progressing. We had a really sad experience this week too. We received a referral from the Ilo-ilo mission of a part member family here in Kabankalan. We went and contacted them, the wife is a member but a long time inactive, and she has a husband and 2 kids. We taught them and it was just a really good lesson. The husband seemed to be eating it up. He even accepted a baptismal date. But the next time we went back, he told us he had thought about it and he's not going to leave the religion he grew up in (catholic). The dumb thing is he said he didn't even think the catholic church was true and that he didn't know which church was, but he said he doesn't believe a church can save you. So we explained everything about how the church is not just some other church, and that Jesus Christ himself is guiding it. And how its so easy to know. Just read one chapter in the Book of Mormon and ask God if it's true. But he wouldn't even do that. He just kept saying how he didn't want to change and everything. It hurt. It really did. He will be one of those people I see in the next life and go up to with tears in my eyes and say, "I tried. I did everything I could to help you, but you didn't listen." But you know, thats life. Thats Heavenly Fathers plan for us, and thats the way it's gotta be. So yeah, just a couple experiences from my week. We've done a lot of trying to work with part member families and unordained males, because thats what President Tobias wants. So things are going well, hard to believe I've been out almost a year now! When did that happen? All right, I gotta run, but thanks for all the birthday wishes and love! Love Elder Andersen.

Hello family. Well this week has been good. We've just been working hard and doing our best. We've been working a lot with unordained male members and part member families, because that is what President Tobias has instructed us to do. In Kabankalan ward there are 183 unordained males. Only 2 are active. Yikes! Our work is cut out for us! Hopefully this next transfer they send 2 more missionaries here so we can split the area and hasten the work here. One of the biggest problems here is that people get offended really easily by other members and things like that, and they don't understand that being offended is a choice. They also don't understand exactly what they promised when they were baptized. That is what we are trying to help them understand. The other big excuse is they don't have plete, or money for travel to get to the church. Sometimes its understandable because they have big families and they are poor and kind of far away from the church and they can't drag their little kids all through the hills to get to church, but there are a lot of them that they could walk, and their faith is just not strong enough. They don't understand the reason why we go to church. But the work is going well, and we are helping people understand these things. The best way is through the members. Any time we go to less active/inactive members we bring active members, or there is really no point in us going to them. They respond much better when they feel the members actually care about them and things like that. Usually every Sunday we go on splits with the members and go "home teaching" Home teaching is a little different here, and most people don't really know how to do it, but it's all right because now they are at least trying and learning. They have realized that the Lord has given them a chance to progress this area by giving them 2 more missionaries, and they are getting excited about the work now it's really awesome. There is an amazingly huge difference in the work when you have the help and participation of members, and when you don't. Anyway, things here are going well, and I'm enjoying the work. I think maybe when I get old and retire one day, I'll come live in the Philippines. I think I turn 20 this week. Thats old! I'm gonna look like the crypt keeper!! Well thats all for now. Love ya'll! Elder Andersen

 Just some funny signs. And that big old boa constrictor!

 Just a few pictures! Eating Snails!

Tried to go swimming, but there was no water in the pool!

Hello family! Another week has come and gone! Things went pretty well this week. Except I got a little sick and had to go to Bacolod yesterday so I could get a check up from the doctor so I could get the medicine I needed. But it's fine now, so no need to worry! I can't really think of anything to write about, cause this week we've just been doing a lot of visiting to members and teaching them how to share the gospel with their friends because we need more investigators, and everyone knows tracting is really not effective, so we've been really working with the members and trying to help them share the gospel and give us referrals. I did see some cool things this week and was going to send you pictures, but my card reader wont work so I'll just have to wait till next week. But I saw I giant boa constricor (I know you'll love that mom) and the pictures of snail we ate. And just some other pictures. Hmm this week we ate "Poorboy Soup" Which is a soup containing the reproductive parts of animals, usually cows. And I don't mean just the testicles. Yep. It really wasn't bad at all, it was pretty good as long as you didn't keep reminding yourself you were eating a cows penis. Our investigators are doing well, we're teaching a couple of families that are doing well, and it's always awesome to teach families. But one of our major focuses here is reactivation. There are 700 members in the Kabankalan ward, but only 92 came to church on sunday. So our work is cut out for us in that department. It's sad because we know that if they don't come back to the church, it would be better for them that they were never baptized. The problem here is most of them live out in far away places and it's hard for them to come to church, and so over time they just became lost, and some of them have even gone back to the Catholic church and stuff. It's a sad thing to see. Missionary work is some of the happiest work one could ever do, but at times it is also the saddest. But that's the plan and so that's how it's gotta be. Just gotta keep doing our best. Going to Bacolod yesterday was pretty cool. Makes me feel like I'm back in America almost. Eating at Pizza Hut, going to SM, seeing other white people, etc.. I guess that is all for this week. Thank you all for all your love and prayers. Love Elder Andersen

Well hello family. Another week has come and gone, and it's already June! This week has been good. So Kabankalan is quite a big area, but we don't work out in the far away places, unless we are working with inactives, who are inactive because they live so far away from the church, and because they weren't really converted. I honestly don't know what missionaries were thinking back in the day when they would just go out in the bukid and baptize people, cause now there are sooo many inactives/ less actives. There are about 500 members on our cmis, but only about 110 or so that actually go to church. It's a little ridiculous, so we do a lot of working with them, as well as with investigators. So we have to plan and balance out our schedule of visiting them and visiting our investigators. Right now we have a family we are teaching, and they are really good, and should be baptized in July, but it depends cause the tatay hasn't stopped smoking yet, so he has to stop first obviously. Then we are teaching this other guy and he's in his mid 40's and his wife died a couple of years ago, but he is really a neat guy, and when we meet with him he just really gets things. He always is telling us stuff he sees in other religions that they do wrong and it's just really cool to find people that actually know about stuff like that, because most people are like "We're Catholic and we're gonna stay that way" But they have no idea what their religion is all about. Then you get other people that say stuff like this:"As long as you accept Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, you will be saved." So yeah, gotta love it. So I figured I'd tell you all a little funny story that happened this week. It actually happens quite often, I've just never told you about it before. So we were trying to find this less active family, and we went to the house and said "Tagbalay" (thats what you say when you go to peoples' houses) and this girl answers back and said "waay tawo di!" (There's no one here!) So I said back to her, "Te, ano ka, amok?" (So, what are you, a monkey?) Then you could just hear her giggling and then she just said "Wa'ay tawo di!" again! So I was like "pwede kami magpamangkot?" (Can I ask a question) she said "Ano" and I said "kilalala mo ang pamilya so and so" (do you know the so and so family) and she answered "didto sila sa pihak" (Over there on the other side) So we left the house and just as we were leaving some little kids came up and I asked them, "nagaestar kamo diri?" (do you live here?) And this little girl nodded her head yes, and I asked her if her last name was the name of the family we were trying to find and again she nodded her head, so I started laughing and just said, "ok salamat. Maghambal ka sa imo nga ate, nga hindi dapat siya magbulig." (tell your older sister that she shouldn't lie) and she was like "Ok Elder, hambalon ko sia" (ok Elder, I'll tell her). So that was just a little experience. Pretty funny. People always tell you there is no one in the house, but yet they are talking to you. I don't understand it. I don't know why I told you the whole Illongo conversation, it would have been a lot easier to just write it all in English, but whatever. So yeah, things are going well, Elder Jensen and I get along really well and work well together, and have a lot of fun. But not too much :) Thanks for everything you all do for me and all your prayers! Love you all! Elder Andersen  P.S. I ate snail for dinner last night! Yum!